2014 existing industry report - final

CITY OF WEST DES MOINES 2014 EXISTING INDUSTRY REPORT

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2 CITY OF WEST DES MOINES 2014 EXISTING INDUSTRY REPORT

THE CITY OF WEST DES MOINES

Population: 63,471

Daytime Population: 141,502

Unemployment Rate: 4.0%*

Source: 2014-2015 Development Retrospective *October 2014

Located in Central Iowa, West Des Moines is positioned perfectly in four

counties: Dallas, Madison, Polk, and Warren.

Positioned. Perfectly...

CITY OF WEST DES MOINES 2014 EXISTING INDUSTRY REPORT 3

Since 1997, the City of West Des Moines has been involved in the Executive Call Program. On average, 70 businesses participate in the program each year. This past year, 69 local businesses were called upon to give their opinions on city services and to help the City gain a better understanding on trends in their industry. Staff from the City of West Des Moines’ Community and Economic Development Department, as well as representatives from the Greater Des Moines Partnership and the West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce, conducted the executive call interviews. The discussions included questions relating to workforce traits, job training, potential expansion, among other topics. The information gathered from these discussions allows the City to gain a better understanding of local business’s needs in order to better serve the community. This Existing Industry Report provides the aggregated information about the responses gathered from all the interviews, although each business’s individual information is kept confidential. A complete list of the businesses who participated in the program this year can be found on page 11. To all of the businesses who participated in the 2014 Executive Call Program, we thank you. If your business would like to participate in the Executive Call Program in the future, please contact the City of West Des Moines’ Community and Economic Development Department at 515-273-0770.

THE EXECUTIVE CALL PROGRAM


COMPANY BACKGROUNDS

West Des Moines is proud to be a friend of small businesses. Eighty-seven percent of the businesses we met with this year had less than 100 employees. We met with one company that employed between 101 and 250 employees and one that employed between 251 and 500 employees.

As you can see from the graph to the right, the majority of the businesses were the main office for their business. Around 37 percent of the businesses dealt with office operations and four businesses were divisions of their company’s headquarters.

Ownership Type Private/Family 31

Public 4

Non-Profit 5

Other 21


BUSINESS DYNAMICS

Businesses in West Des Moines serve local, regional, and national markets. A quarter of them deal with customers on a national level. Almost a third of the businesses deal with the state as a whole; while over 40 percent of them work with the Des Moines-West Des Moines market.

West Des Moines businesses are growing considerably. Four out of five businesses we talked to reported they are growing. Another 10 percent reported their business was in the maturing life cycle. Innovation and entrepreneurship is alive and well in West Des Moines as five percent of the businesses reported to be emerging onto the market.

Almost two-thirds, 62 percent, of the businesses introduced a new product or service to the market in the last five years. Looking to the future, 41 of the companies we talked to anticipated adding a new product or service in the next two years. These statistics just prove how much business in West Des Moines is growing and how innovative our companies are.


WORKFORCE

Businesses in West Des Moines value a highly skilled workforce. Sixty-two percent of them are increasing their investment in job training. Investment in job training is trending upward as compared to 2010, which stood at 42 percent. Thirty-four percent of businesses are keeping their investment at the same pace while only 2 percent are decreasing or don’t invest.

62 percent of businesses are investing in job training.

A highly skilled workforce is key to the growth and success of any industry. Here in West Des Moines, 80 percent of our businesses have a stable workforce but over 15 percent have an increasing number of unfilled positions. Business executives are reporting that it is hard to recruit employees with specific skills or who have held certain positions. The West Des Moines workforce is lacking scientific, technical, and skilled production labor skills according to the executives. However, they acknowledge the fact that recruiting problems are an industry problem, not a community issue. According to the Brookings Institute*, job vacancies in the STEM fields are directly linked to a high demand and a low supply. On average, an employer advertises for a

non-STEM job for 33 days. For a STEM job, at a Ph.D. or other professional level, employers will advertise for an average of 50 days. For computer related jobs, employers have reported advertising up to 71 days. The City of West Des Moines has been partnering with the community schools and the Technology Association of Iowa to understand and begin to address the issue. Promoting and expanding STEM related programs is something the City, and the State, are committed to doing. *Rothwell, Jonathan. "Still Searching: Job Vacancies and STEM Skills." The Brookings Institution. Brookings, 1 July 2014. Web.


WORKFORCE

Businesses were surveyed to determine their satisfaction and perception of the workforce in the local area. The graph above is based on a 1-7 scale with 1 being the poorest and 7 being the greatest. The table to the right is the average score of the attributes we surveyed. Overall, stability of the workforce scored the highest and for all four categories, 6 was the most frequent rating. Putting this into perspective, West Des Moines employers are very happy with the workforce that is available to them.


COMMUNITY CHARACTERISTICS West Des Moines

Strengths and Weaknesses

Business leaders in West Des Moines were asked about the strengths and weaknesses of doing business here. The top two strengths that were listed were West Des Moines’ [LOCATION] and [POSITIVE BUSINESS CLIMATE]. The next strengths businesses listed (shown in the graph to the right) were a good transportation system, good government services, and an adequate infrastructure. They also listed the cost of doing business and positive community leadership as a few more. Looking back to the last time we met with these businesses, their answers remain almost the same. Location at the crossroads of I-80 and I-35 is the strongest strength West Des Moines has to offer.

Looking at weaknesses, they seem to be the same as strengths, just reported at a much smaller number. A few items that were listed as weaknesses were the business climate, the government services, and a poor infrastructure. Although some weaknesses were pointed out, all of the executives indicated that there are no reasons why West Des Moines wouldn’t be considered for expansion, as shown on page 10.


COMMUNITY SATISFACTION

The businesses we surveyed were asked to rate West Des Moines’ services based on their satisfaction with each element. The ratings were completed based on a scale

from 1 to 7, 1 being the lowest they could rate a service and 7 being the highest. The table to

the left shows the average rating of each specific service.

The ratings were compared to the 2010 ratings,

the last time we met with these businesses.

Service Average Rating 2010 Ratings

City Provided

Ambulance & Paramedics 6.71 6.53

Fire Protection 6.56 6.53

Police Protection 6.56 6.43

Traffic Control 6.22 6.19

Local Streets and Roads 6.05 6.20

Regulatory Enforcement 5.94 5.66

Zoning Changes & Permits

5.94 5.49

Property Tax Assessment 5.37 4.76

Education

Schools (k-12) 6.54 6.46

Community Colleges 6.46 6.46

Tech Colleges 6.41 6.45

Colleges & Universities 6.41 6.45

Community

Health Care Service 6.68 6.34

Highways 6.65 6.20

Trucking 6.00 5.86

Childcare 5.59 5.77

Airline Passenger Service 5.39 4.48

Public Transportation 4.76 4.89

Utilities

Natural Gas 6.30 5.78

Sewer 6.26 5.81

Water 6.14 5.44

Cellular Service 6.00 5.62

Electric 5.99 5.90

Telecom (voice) 5.97 5.58

Internet Access 5.73 5.51


EXPANSION Of the businesses we surveyed, 75 percent of them planned on expanding in the next three years. This is up from previous years and could be due to the health of Iowa’s economy. Only 49 percent of businesses in 2010 planned on expanding.

As you can see from the above graph, every business executive we talked to didn’t think there were any barriers to growth here in West Des Moines, which is especially good news, considering 75 percent of them plan on expanding.

An adequate technology infrastructure is important for growth. When asked various questions about technology, 88 percent of executives think West Des Moines’ tech infrastructure is adequate for growth.

The graph below shows that 84 percent of businesses believed there is room at their West Des Moines location to expand. This number is relativity on par with years past.


THANK YOU The City of West Des Moines would like to thank the following businesses for participating in the

Executive Call Program. The information gathered from their interviews is a crucial part of the City’s efforts to create local employment and to maintain and expand its tax base.

ABC5

Aon Risk Services Central, Inc.

AppleOne Employment Services

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Aspen Financial Services

Bickford Senior Living

Davis Brown Law Firm

Des Moines Golf & Country Club

Dev-itch

Diment Law Office

DMACC

Dowd Law Firm

Edward Jones - Jay Sohn

Escape Velocity Strategies

Feitelson Law, LLC

Flagg & Company

Hawkeye Life Insurance Group

HCI Care Services

HDH Advisors

Hubbell Realty Company

Hurd Real Estate

Infinity Financial Group

Insight Wealth Group

Inspiring Solutions

Insurance Strategies Consulting

Iowa Automobile Dealers Association

Iowa Realty

Iowa Society of Certified Public Accountants

Jordan Creek Town Center

Kenny & Gyl Company

KLC Property Management Solutions

Knapp Properties, Inc.

Knowledge Delivery Services, LLC

L & C Medical Billing

Law Offices - Wilson

LearningRX Brain Training Center

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Lounsbury Landscaping Sand & Gravel

LWBJ, LLP

March of Dimes

McGowen, Hurst, Clark & Smith, P.C.

Miles Capital

Modis

NAI Optimum

North American Minerals Corp.

Olsson Associates

Pattee Design, Inc.

Performance Marketing

Premier Crop Systems

R & R Realty

Red House Remodeling

SocialWise Media Group

State Farm Insurance

Strategic America

Sullivan & Ward

SystemWorks, LLC

Telligen

Ten Square International, Inc.

The Concept Works

The IMT Group

Travelers

Tunink Murray Financial Group

U.S. Commodities, Inc.

Upper Iowa University

Wasker, Dorr, Wimmer, Marcouiller, P.C.

West Des Moines Therapy and Consulting

World Group

Wright Tree Service

Zirous, Inc.


City of West Des Moines Community and Economic Development Department

4200 Mills Civic Parkway, Suite 2E West Des Moines, IA 50265-0320

515-273-0770 www.wdm.iowa.gov

2014 existing industry report - final

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